Nowadays, the synthesis of proton conducting membrane that can replace Nafion with low production cost is studied intensively. The membrane that has similar structure with respect to Nafion was synthesized in this study. This membrane has hydrophylic cluster that homogenously distributed in the hydrophobic matrix. Here, carboxymethylcellulose-chitosan (CMC-chitosan) complex nanoparticles act as hydrophylic cluster while the polysulfone polymer (PSf) serves as a hydrophobic matrix. Four types of complex membranes were synthesized at various nanoparticles volume fraction of 11.11%; 22.22%; 33.33%; 44.44%; 55.55% and 75%. The resulting membranes were assumed to form an acid-base complex structure that homogenously distributed in the membrane matrix. It was observed that the presence of this structure increases the performance of proton conducting membrane. The optimum performance of this complex membrane is reached for the nanoparticles volume fraction of 44.44% (v/v). It is reflected by the low methanol permeability (1.7644 x 10-7 cm2 s-1), the high ion exchange capacity (13.82 meq/g), the high effective charge (0.028 mol L-1) and relatively high proton conductivity (1.30 x 10-2 S/cm). These results imply that this complex membrane is a good candidate as a proton conducting membrane for fuel cell aplication.

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